After a painful loss, Cady Moreland is coming to Magdalene to start the next chapter of her life. A chapter that began eighteen years ago but had a heartbreaking ending. The time in between was full of family and friendship, but Cady could never get the man she fell in love with all those years ago out of her heart.Coert Yeager has learned to live without the girl who entered his life right when she shouldn’t and exited delivering a crippling blow he never would have suspected. The time in between was full of failing to find what he was missing…and life-altering betrayal.But when that girl shows up in Magdalene and buys the town’s beloved lighthouse, even if Coert wants to avoid her, he can’t. A fire in town sparks a different kind of flame that won’t be ignored.As Cady and Coert question the actions of the two young adults they once were thrown into earth-shattering circumstances, can they learn from what came in between and find each other again?

Title: The Time in Between

Series: Magdalene #3

Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Author: Kristen Ashley

Release Date: August 29, 2017

A story of past decisions gone awry, secrets that change directions, and emotional second chances, this gripping love story is what happens when two paths again collide. The final standalone title in New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley’s Magdalene Series, The Time In Between is a rich, heartfelt love story available now!

5% of the proceeds from the first week of sales of The Time In Between release will be given to HALO Animal Rescue in Phoenix, a no-kill shelter. HALO stands for “helping animals live on” and is a shelter started by a mother/daughter team of committed animal advocates who have done a huge duty for animals in this area, and continue to do so with unwavering love, support and energy. For more information on HALO or to donate to the work they do, go to www.halorescue.org.

Excerpt

Present day

They wanted me home.

In Denver.

“If you need to find your way, you should do it with your family.”

They weren’t my family.

They were Patrick’s.

“You know I love you,” I said softly.

“Yes, I know. And Kath knows. Verity. Dex. I could go on but I won’t. What I’ll do is say we love you too. Dad’s gone and we all lost him. We all miss him. And trust me, because we’re all here and you’re there, I know it’s easier to grieve when you’re with family.”

“To get back to our original discussion,” I changed the subject badly, “Kath has my power of attorney. If the house sells—”

“If the house sells,” Pat interrupted me, “then the stuff in it needs to be auctioned off.”

“And I went through everything with Kath, Pam and Shannon before I left, so they know everything that I haven’t put aside is good to go.”

“I think with this break, you should come home and have another look. Kath tells me you barely put anything aside.”

“None of it, as you know, is Patrick.”

Again he said nothing but this time he stuck with that.

“I’m doing what your father wanted, Pat,” I reminded him.

“I’m not sure he was in his right mind when he shared what he wanted, Cady,” Pat returned.

“You know that isn’t true,” I chided gently. “You know he’d been planning this for years.”

And again, Pat was silent.

“I need to do this, Pat. For your dad.”

“If the place sells, you need to come home.”

“Kath has my power—”

“When we say goodbye to that house, Cady, we’ll want you home.”

It was my turn to be silent.

“Are we agreed on that?” he asked.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Good,” he said and it sounded almost like a grunt.

I nearly grinned.

Instead I took another sip of wine.

“I’ll keep you informed with how the sale is going,” he promised.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” I replied.

“And Kath wouldn’t mind hearing from you,” he shared with me.

That surprised me.

“I called her just yesterday.”

“She’s used to talking to you every day, and seeing you nearly every day. So maybe think on that.”

I closed my eyes.

We were thick as thieves, Kath and me. Pam and me. Heck, Shannon was my third best friend.

The rest of the family would miss me. But it would hit Kath, Pam and Shannon hard, and I knew this because if any of them went away, I’d be devastated.

And I was because I was going away.

I just couldn’t think about that.

“I’ll give her a call a bit later,” I told him.

“Appreciated.”

“Okay, then, I have a camembert bleeding here and—”

“I know you’re going to see him.”

I shut my mouth.

Pat didn’t.

“I know you’re going to try to see them and I’ll just put my two cents in here to say neither of them is worth it, Cady. They both turned their backs on you. That one, that cop, what he did to you—”

I closed my eyes again and whispered, “Please.”

“They don’t deserve to know you, honey. They don’t deserve to have your light in their lives. I don’t know what Dad was thinking and I loved my father. The whole world feels strange without him in it because he was such a big part of mine. But he’s wrong about this. I feel it in my bones.”

“It’s beautiful here,” I said quietly, opening my eyes and staring into the fire.

“I know.”

“Peaceful,” I told him.

“I know that too.”

“I need to do what he wanted me to do, Pat.”

My Review

Call me a masochist. Call me a glutton for punishment. Say what you will, but the fact will still remain the same; I love an alpha jerk. I love when he is so unequivocally wrong about our heroine, to the point he reduces her to tears. I love the long road he has to travel, all the while struggling to get her to see just how very wrong he was. Love and redemption; they go hand in hand and if anything else, I feel as if this has been the theme of Kristen Ashley’s Magdalene series. As with all her other books, I find myself going in saying I’ll just get a taste and come back later, yet when I finally look up I’m 100 pages deep into the most beautiful story I’ve ever read. This holds true no matter I’m reading a new title from her or one I’ve read 5 times prior. Each time I crack the proverbial spine, they make all the others before them cease to exist. I simply cannot get enough!

So not only do we get my jerk prerequisite in this story, we also get my favorite trope of second-chance romance. Something unique about this series is that all the main characters are in their early to mid-forties, which is about ten years older than her characters usually are, which is already outside of the norm in popular romance today. But regardless of age, I just love how her stories seem to touch everyone individually, no matter their walk in life. I loved how much love we received in this book. Not only the love between Cady and Coert, but all the family love. I love how someone who came from so little received so much for just being her wonderful self. I’m used to KA characters having or marrying into large families, but this was a whole other level or deliciousness. I tend to devour books very quickly, but I believe reading this story set a new personal record. I just could not put it down!

Just when I thought their story couldn’t get any better, she goes back to her roots, literally. There were many surprise cameos at the end that I never saw coming, and oh what a welcome treat they were. This was the perfect end to a gorgeous series, and while I hate to see them go, she did her characters justice. I especially love how true to the characters Ashley stayed. Though there were revelations, at their core they stayed true to themselves. They shed the masks the world saw and let their light shine through. Be it golden or midnight, their light shone true and it was breathtaking nonetheless. I loved their history and I appreciated even more how hard they fought for it. Two magnets constantly pulled towards each other, their attraction and connection could not be denied. And even though they went through many bumps and bruises and years apart, it was that connection that never wavered, no matter how hard they tried to sever it. Because when it really came down to it, it was an unbreakable bond; one that they carried with them no matter where they were.

Ashley writes stories that make you believe in true love. She makes you believe that no matter what hardships you have to endure and overcome, nothing is impossible. She gives her readers hope in a world where that often seems impossible. And even if it is pure fiction, for however many hours it takes you to finish each story, you can honestly experience a once in a lifetime love and come away with characters you will never forget. I feel true bounty that I ever took the plunge and read a book from her. There’s a reason why I own every single one of her titles in paperback AND e-book. There’s a reason why I’ve read the majority of them 3-4 times. And there’s a reason why I will always go back to these titles, no matter if I’ve just finished them not that long ago. She, what seems, effortlessly achieves what most others can’t; love that transcends time and space and never really lets go of its hold on you. The time in between reading her books I simply exist, but once I’m beneath the pages again, I come alive.

Early in her life, Josephine Malone learned the hard way that there was only one person she could love and trust: her grandmother, Lydia Malone. Out of necessity, unconsciously and very successfully, Josephine donned a disguise to keep all others at bay. She led a globetrotting lifestyle on the fringes of the fashion and music elite, but she kept herself distant.

While Josephine was trotting the globe, retired boxer Jake Spearwas living in the same small town as Lydia. There was nothing disguised about Jake. Including the fact he made a habit of making very bad decisions about who to give his love.

But for Josephine and Jake, there was one person who adored them. One person who knew how to lead them to happiness. And one person who was intent on doing it.

Her husband cheated on her, and when everything she wanted in life slipped through her fingers, she fell apart. When she did, she took another heart wrenching hit as she lost the respect of her children.

When her ex took her family from California to live in the small town of Magdalene in Maine, Amelia decided it was time to sort herself out. In order to do that and win her children back, she moves to Cliff Blue, an architectural masterpiece on the rocky coast of Magdalene.

Her boxes aren’t even unpacked when she meets Mickey Donovan, a man who lives across the street, a man so beautiful Amelia takes one look at Mickey and knows she wants it all from him.

The problem is, she finds out swiftly that he’s friendly, he’s kind, but he doesn’t want everything back.

Amelia struggles to right past wrongs in her life at the same time find out who she wants to be. She also struggles with her attraction to the handsome firefighter who lives across the street.

But Amelia will face a surprise when her friendly neighbor becomes not-so-friendly. As Amelia and Mickey go head to head, Amelia must focus on winning back the hearts of her children.

She soon discovers she also must focus on winning the heart of a handsome firefighter who understands down to his soul the beautiful heiress who lives across the street is used to a life he cannot provide.

About Kristen Ashley

About Kristen Ashley

I was born a middle class white child in Gary, Indiana, USA. One of the last of a dying breed. I nearly killed my mother and myself making it into the world, seeing as I had the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck (already attempting to accessorize and I hadn’t taken my first breath!). Mom says they took me away, put her back in her room, she looked out the window and Gary was on fire (Dr. King had been assassinated four days before). She remembered thinking it was the end of the world. Quite the dramatic beginning.

Nothing’s changed.

All I’ve ever wanted to do was write (well, and be the Queen of the World, but you gotta start small) and I’ve published a gazillion books and counting (and a gazillion is a lot! shoo!). You can learn about my titles that have been released or that are soon to be released in the Titles section of the website.

Even though I jump genres, there is always a theme to my books… humor (hopefully), engaging characters (again, hopefully) and romance (definitely).

My loves are movies, music, food and fashion and I partake of all of them as often as I can (the middle two more than the others, the former, which takes time I don’t often have and the latter, which takes money and I have to be careful to have enough to feed my cats). In fact, I love food so much, I like to share my good fortune so I put my recipes on offer for you on this page (see my Recipes section and don’t miss them, they’re awesome!).

I grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana and have lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus I’m blessed to have friends and family around the globe. My family was (is) loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write and growing up it was large and multi-generational. We all lived together on a very small farm in a small farm town in the heartland. I grew up with Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).

Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.